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Arsenal were forced into paying much more than they planned on for midfielder Andrei Arshavin by Russian President Vladimir Putin, a new book has amazingly claimed.
Revealed in 'The Deal', the new autobiography by football agent Jon Smith, and serialised in The Independent, details how Arsene Wenger and the Gunners' hierarchy wanted to sign Arshavin back in 2009, but only wanted to fork out around £7 million for his services.
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But Arshavin's club Zenit Saint Petersburg are Putin's boyhood team, and apparently he thought £15 million was more what the Russian international was worth.
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Zenit are run by the state-owned energy company Gazprom - who answered directly to Putin, meaning he was the kingmaker in most of their high-profile transfers.
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If you remember, Arshavin was signed at the end of a January transfer window, with the deal needing special permission to be concluded after the window had officially shut. And most of the hold-up surrounded Putin's involvement, and his demands that Arsenal cough-up more money.
The book also claims that negotiations were so protracted that Arsene Wenger suggested offering Zenit a spot in the annual pre-season Emirates Cup competition, and required Arsenal's billionaire shareholder Alisher Usmanov to use his connections in Russia to push things over the line.
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It's a pretty remarkable story, and a real eye opener for football fans who have no idea what goes on in these convoluted dealings.
You never know, maybe David Cameron weighed in on some of West Ham's transfer negotiations last summer - oops, sorry, Aston Villa.
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Topics: Football, Arsenal, vladimir putin